Official 2011 Yard Sale Thread

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Well, mostly a bust here. I went to approximately 30-40 sales, and found almost nothing.

Out of the many sales, only two I went to had anything gaming. The first had five PS2 games such as Jak 2, GT3, and other games, for $2 a piece. I passed, because of my current lack of a PS2. (accepting offers[lol]) The second had a full rock band set, with an extra guitar (WTF do you do with three guitars) all for $8, but because of the impossibility of flipping rockband/guitarhero I passed.

The only thing I did find was a nice craftsman hand drill for $2.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']That was a nice NES haul

I expect to see a lot of Rock Band and Guitar Hero bundles around here, but I don't think they are worth much, am I correct? I mean I don't even think GS takes these used and they are huge, take up space and impossible to ship so selling online isn't an option especially with ebay tacking on fees to shipping costs now. I don't really want one to play, and I don't see any feasible easy way of getting rid of these so I probably shouldn't buy any right?

I did go out today but I didn't get anything, however it does mark the opening week of yard sale season for me.[/QUOTE]

I thrift a lot and the amount of instruments I see is insane. The drop in interest and value on these types of games is unbelievable.
 
The only video game find for me today was Time Splitters 2 for gamecube, complete for .25

This was my big find for today, paid $10.

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solid wood, design on one side, and hardware for hanging on the other. After I bought it, he said hang on, I've got some other Coors Light stuff that you can have to go with it, and he brought out this funky 2 seater director's style chair with a soft sided cooler that hangs between the 2 chairs with a speaker that hooks to an ipod. kinda cool, and to get it free for buying the surfboard was even better.


RE: seeing lots of plastic instruments at sales: IF you want to bother, the Wii drum sets flip very well on Ebay. I bought a white drum set from Rock Band 1 for wii, this is the corded one, for $10 at a sale, and flipped it for $45 on ebay. And that only included the drums and the kick pedal, no sticks. It cost about $20 to ship it. Disassembled the set, and it still took a large box, but very doable.
 
[quote name='Tally Wag']I thrift a lot and the amount of instruments I see is insane. The drop in interest and value on these types of games is unbelievable.[/QUOTE]

I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of the instruments soon, especially since the fad died, and the fact that they aren't going to be releasing any new games anytime soon. I bought a Beatles RB set on clearance when Target was practically giving them away, and now I regret it. I only played it a handful of times, and now the whole set just takes up a ton of space and is really obtrusive. I'll probably just drop it off at Goodwill eventually.
 
Had a crappy day turn into a fairly decent one. Went to the 20 or so sales I had mapped out in about 2 hours this morning. Only spent $2 on 3 OG Xbox controllers (2 wired, one wireless 3rd party). Got home disappointed and early, so I decided to take my son for his first trip to the flea market.

Things started kinda lukewarm there, too, but I managed to eventually get a Gameboy Printer, loose Pokemon Sapphire and some GB DK game (don't have them right in front of me, ATM) for $10. Fairly happy with that. Then I go to check one of the 'video game guys' booths (ie usually way overpriced) to see what he's robbing people for today, and, to my surprise, come across a copy of Halo Reach in his generic Xbox 360 $15 pile. I don't even try to haggle him down from the $15...I'll probably just trade this into BB, or to GS towards LA Noire for $25 or so; that'll just help defray the cost a little more. Thought I hit the jackpot at one stand on the way out. These guys had out about 12-15 mostly Wii games, including SMG, SMG2, Mario Kart, Wii Sports Resort and DBZ BT3(!). I ask him the price, and he says $30 a piece LoL! I had to just shake my head and walk away at that one.

On the way back home, we swung by a local trading post I hadn't been to in awhile. This guy buys storage lockers/buildings/truckloads of stuff and sets it all thrift store/yard sale-style out on his property. There can be some great deals to be had sometimes, beacause being the hearty country folk he is, he tends to specialize in appliances and tools, so he doesn't necessarily know how to price the 'new-fangled' stuff. I scored pretty big at his place last year; walked away with two HUGE rubbermaid containers full of mostly loose Gundam, Star Wars, and Transformer toys, with about 10 sealed Gundam figures to boot. I didn't know much about that stuff, but I took the gamble. Turns out the Gundam were pretty rare (even in the 6-7/10 condition they were in), so I sold the lot of those for around $250, and still have two boxes of cool toys sitting here in my garage being awesome.

I digress...so right off the bat, I find a mint Remo Kid's hand drum for my son for $7; I used to play hand percussion in a few bands, so maybe we'll have a jam session soon! :) I am pretty excited about that one. My wife...not so much. Anyway, next I come across another Rubbermaid tub full of manga comics, graphic novels, some Calvin and Hobbes stuff, etc...I start to dig through it, and see a few things of interest right off. When I ask price he throws out $20 for the whole lot, so I immediately stopped digging and just threw the whole thing in the car. From the few things I saw, it was worth at least $20 to me, and my son was getting restless.

I might need to see if anyone here can possibly help me start to figure out what some of this stuff is, because I don't know much about a lot of it. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures to post yet; I dug through the box a little bit more, but never brought it in from the car since I got home from work.

Pix tomorrow!
 
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Nothing today...bought a huge-ass binder of Pokemon cards for $7. I have no use for them so they're going on the 'Bay. It's a fairly typical distribution of commons, uncommons, and rares/holos (plus a few promos.) I don't think there's anything worth more than $5 or $10 individually but I'm thinking I'll divide them into lots based on set...is that the best way to go? Any advice?
 
[quote name='N3UROP0D']Nothing today...bought a huge-ass binder of Pokemon cards for $7. I have no use for them so they're going on the 'Bay. It's a fairly typical distribution of commons, uncommons, and rares/holos (plus a few promos.) I don't think there's anything worth more than $5 or $10 individually but I'm thinking I'll divide them into lots based on set...is that the best way to go? Any advice?[/QUOTE]

Check out trollandtoad.com they buy cards. You have to price them out yourself but if you don't have the time for that, they charge a fee of 25% of what they will pay you and they sort and price them themselves. I've dealt with them twice and both times I was completely satisfied.
 
First week hitting yard sales and didn't find much.

V3 Racing Wheel (N64) 3 bucks.

Hit a yard sale that started lated wanted $10 I offered $3. Lady called whose ever its was (I'm assuming son) didn't answer and told me just to take it for $3. Left my number but definitely not getting a call back. Oh well wanted at least something.


Another sale i went to guy said he had a bunch of PS1, N64 and SNES stuff. Left my number but screwed up, should have got his too. Other than that complete bust. I had fun and can't wait for next week.


Oh yeah almost forgot hit a pawnshop close to my place I see an SNES with about 8 games (mostly sports titles) priced $69.99. However in the bundle I see Super Smash TV and Ninja Warriors. Got 'em for 5 a piece.
 
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[quote name='spmahn']I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of the instruments soon, especially since the fad died, and the fact that they aren't going to be releasing any new games anytime soon. I bought a Beatles RB set on clearance when Target was practically giving them away, and now I regret it. I only played it a handful of times, and now the whole set just takes up a ton of space and is really obtrusive. I'll probably just drop it off at Goodwill eventually.[/QUOTE]

The interest fallout on these types of games are amazing as you say. I listen to Japanese music, so these sets have absolutely no appeal to me since there isn't anything I listen to on them. My second strike against these things is I have absolutely no place to put them whatsoever. They are huge and take up a lot of space. I have like 3ft of space to play my Wii in. You can't easily put them back in a box either. One of the reasons I loathe the Wii is that all the peripherals are so big and most things are used for only one game. But hey I won the thing (Wii) in a contest so I shouldn't complain. Thank god the motionplus is small. Games that use peripherals are usually lame anyways. Though there is a booth at the flea here that claims to take any games, I am going to bring them this PC game I found in a free box that is like from the 1980's just to see if they will take it.

Sears had DJ Hero for like $20 the last time I checked and there were piles on the shelf. I can't believe people paid $200 for stuff like Rock Band back when it was hot. Most of the local stores simply aren't big enough to hold rock band instruments and plastic guitars (you would probably need a whole store just to hold those things). A lot of the instruments are easily breakable too making them risky pickups and trade in's.

I wonder when the Wii dumping will start since there is like nothing coming out for it now. Hopefully it gets as big as PS1/N64 and PS2 dumping is now. Though I think people will keep the Wii in their homes for a while and just not use it, if it hasn't already been sitting and collecting dust. Out of all the systems I find games for I would say the N64 is probably the most common.
 
My only gaming item this weekend was a complete copy of Sonic & Knuckles (crushed box) for $2. :whistle2:(

After I fucked up that book sale on Friday (see earlier post), the old guy that I ran into was only telling me about it to throw me off going to other sales . . . I figured this because he comes off as a real dick. Anyway, I beat him to the next listed sale that was nearby and got a good 5 minute jump on a big table of books at another sale. Most were old, old junk but I did spot this baby:



I pushed my set out there for $100 on Amazon and it sold right away.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201500647

I would have played this for more $ but there is a newer version available:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201500647

Here's another great pickup but with a weird twist. I stopped at an Estate sale (I hate the ones run by companies) but there is so little going on. Anyway there were a couple CDs lying on a table and one was worth about $20 (although missing its liner notes . . . so, maybe worthless). I grabbed it and when I was paying the guy was like "Jack's rule is I can't charge less than a $1, so I suggest you get a few more CDs." He was being funny, so I grabbed a X-mas collection (might be nice for the family) and this odd looing radio-station CD (Trouser Trout) . . . no barcode but what the hell its going to be free. I paid $1 for all three.





After I get home, I look it up on Amazon and there is a slot for it but none available. So, I put mine up at $50 figuring it will never sell but its still in the impulse-buy range. But it sold within 24 hours . . . crap! I should have listed it for at least $100. Then again, it might not have sold and eventually someone with a box of them lists at $20 and I never sell mine . . . who knows?
 
[quote name='schultzed']My only gaming item this weekend was a complete copy of Sonic & Knuckles (crushed box) for $2. :whistle2:(

After I fucked up that book sale on Friday (see earlier post), the old guy that I ran into was only telling me about it to throw me off going to other sales . . . I figured this because he comes off as a real dick. Anyway, I beat him to the next listed sale that was nearby and got a good 5 minute jump on a big table of books at another sale. Most were old, old junk but I did spot this baby:



I pushed my set out there for $100 on Amazon and it sold right away.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201500647

I would have played this for more $ but there is a newer version available:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201500647

Here's another great pickup but with a weird twist. I stopped at an Estate sale (I hate the ones run by companies) but there is so little going on. Anyway there were a couple CDs lying on a table and one was worth about $20 (although missing its liner notes . . . so, maybe worthless). I grabbed it and when I was paying the guy was like "Jack's rule is I can't charge less than a $1, so I suggest you get a few more CDs." He was being funny, so I grabbed a X-mas collection (might be nice for the family) and this odd looing radio-station CD (Trouser Trout) . . . no barcode but what the hell its going to be free. I paid $1 for all three.





After I get home, I look it up on Amazon and there is a slot for it but none available. So, I put mine up at $50 figuring it will never sell but its still in the impulse-buy range. But it sold within 24 hours . . . crap! I should have listed it for at least $100. Then again, it might not have sold and eventually someone with a box of them lists at $20 and I never sell mine . . . who knows?[/QUOTE]

awesome
 
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[quote name='DeadStranger']First week hitting yard sales and didn't find much.

V3 Racing Wheel (N64) 3 bucks.

Hit a yard sale that started lated wanted $10 I offered $3. Lady called whose ever its was (I'm assuming son) didn't answer and told me just to take it for $3. Left my number but definitely not getting a call back. Oh well wanted at least something.[/QUOTE]

Two years ago was racing wheel season for me. I must've ran across 20 of them and ended up buying one at a yard sale. Then my dad mentioned at work the one I got him and a guy brought him one in as his wife said she was going to take it to the Salvation Army when she started cleaning.

Then turned around and bought one that showed up in the Salvation Army a week later that had the XBox adaptor to it for my bro. Almost all of them I ran across were either PC or console and none of the consoles had the XBox adaptor there.
 
I am ahead of schedule this week:

New, everything sealed .50 Looks like a generic one from a discount store.

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Paid .50 each for the racy DVDs (both sealed).

$1 for underdog, since it still had the disney code in it (and so I won't have to open the sealed one I bought last year).

.25 for the Star Wars book.


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Lawn Darts $2.

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Here's the mini-jackpot. I saw this at a sale and the kid told me he just put it out. We chatted a little bit and I asked if he had any instructions for the games.

He said he had some of the boxes and maybe instructions in the house, but they are in bad shape because they got wet.

He went in and while he was in the house 3 people were trying to see what I had in the box. He came out with them and he showed me some of the instructions were stuck together and was reaching to throw them in the recycle bin.

Resisting my Urge to yell "NOOOOOOOOOO" in slow motion, I said "Wait! Someone may still want them."

I offered $25, he countered $30.

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[quote name='slowdive21']

Lawn Darts $2.

119c1038.jpg

[/QUOTE]
I had those as a kid. I remember running around my dad's back yard scared outta my mind when I accidentally lobbed one almost completely straight up in the air.

Luckily it came down at an angle though.....and imbedded itself right into the roof of my dad's shed. It was literally in there right up to the end of the 'dart' part almost.:shock:

Great toy to give a 10-11 year old for a Christmas/birthday present.:lol:
 
[quote name='schultzed']Interesting to see that the Jarts have some value on ebay. Slowdive, have you ever sold a set?[/QUOTE]

Aren't they illegal in some jurisdictions?
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I had those as a kid. I remember running around my dad's back yard scared outta my mind when I accidentally lobbed one almost completely straight up in the air.

Luckily it came down at an angle though.....and imbedded itself right into the roof of my dad's shed. It was literally in there right up to the end of the 'dart' part almost.:shock:

Great toy to give a 10-11 year old for a Christmas/birthday present.:lol:[/QUOTE]

We used to throw those at eachother as kids, that or rocks.
 
[quote name='Invicta 61']We used to throw those at eachother as kids, that or rocks.[/QUOTE]

I'm so glad that someone else threw rocks at each other. My first FPS
 
[quote name='elessar123']Aren't they illegal in some jurisdictions?[/QUOTE]

They're illegal to sell in the United States period, they banned them in 1988.
 
With me around they should ban normal darts as well. I tried playing those the one time at the local bowling alley and imbedded a dart in the wall about 3 feet to the right of the dartboard.:lol:

What was even worse than that though was when I lobbed a bowling ball up in the air about 3-4 feet and it BOUNCED over 2 lanes to an empty lane. I got a strike on that lane(and felt like an idiot for throwing the ball like that) though.;)
 
[quote name='elessar123']lol, the ebay prohibited items list has lawn darts as the first item.

"Recalled items (lawn darts, antique cribs, etc.)"[/QUOTE]

sell.com has a few.
 
[quote name='schultzed']Interesting to see that the Jarts have some value on ebay. Slowdive, have you ever sold a set?[/QUOTE]

Nope, I haven't tried. I know they fetch a high price on the black market, but I am going to keep them! :)

They are legal to own, just not to sell. I thought they actually overturned the ban around 2005, but I must have dreamt it.
 
I know 10 years ago or so people would sell Cristal champagne as a collector's item to flout rules regarding sales of alcohol(or so I was told by someone who bought some Cristal). You could try to sell the dart as a 8:1 scale model of a normal dart.;)
 
[quote name='casperinian']I know 10 years ago or so people would sell Cristal champagne as a collector's item to flout rules regarding sales of alcohol(or so I was told by someone who bought some Cristal). You could try to sell the dart as a 8:1 scale model of a normal dart.;)[/QUOTE]

I'm sure some people sell them as "collectable" or in pieces to get around the law, but I am not going to bother. I just think it is interesting that someone can walk around with a concealed handgun (in most states), yet they can't use a toy in their backyard.
 
I know when I sell my knock off transformers I find, I have to list them as Not Transformer and Pre Diaclone. This keeps the listings from being removed.
 
How does everybody here find good garage sales? With the nicer weather upon us, I know we're going to see a lot of them, but I don't know how to go about finding the ones worth going to, or is it a crapshoot more often than not?
 
[quote name='VashandWolfwood']How does everybody here find good garage sales? With the nicer weather upon us, I know we're going to see a lot of them, but I don't know how to go about finding the ones worth going to, or is it a crapshoot more often than not?[/QUOTE]

Crapshoot more often than not. The more you go, the more you learn, and the more potential at each sale. And as you get more experience, you can go through stuff faster, which allows you to hit more sales without slowing down to look up stuff.

I'm decent at video games and some toys, but I know nothing about jewellery, sterling silver, vhs, CDs, textbooks... I'm still relatively new at expanding beyond video games.

On an average Saturday, assuming there's at least a community sale, I'll easily hit 25+, and sometimes more like 50+.
 
[quote name='VashandWolfwood']How does everybody here find good garage sales? [/QUOTE]

For me, its very random but it's also the case that the more sales you hit, the more your odds increase.

If a sale advertises videogames, they might be a) gone by the time you get there--even though you are there 10 min. early or b) overpriced because the seller looked them up on ebay and wants "full-value" like on "the internet."

In contrast, its often the crappiest unadvertised sale with hard-to-follow signage where you will find a box of videogames practically hidden from sight under a table.

You just have to get out there and hunt.
 
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[quote name='schultzed']For me, its very random but it's also the case that the more sales you hit, the more your odds increase.

If a sale advertises video games, they might be a) gone by the time you get there or b) overpriced because the seller looked them up on ebay.

You just have to get out there and hunt.[/QUOTE]

I try to hit the advertised sales on my first stop if they're close by; around 7 or 8 pm. There's always the chance some jackass pulled a sniper at 5:30, but other times you'll get there and find a whole bunch of retro games untouched.

Community sales and the large scale seasonal flea markets would be the next highest priorities on my list. Generally you can cover a lot of ground on these without burning a lot of gas.

Also, you'll learn from experience that some neighborhoods are better than others for finds. Newly created families with young children can be good if the father was a gamer--one who is now ready to make that all-important life change upon your arrival ;)
 
[quote name='Indigo_Streetlight']I try to hit the advertised sales on my first stop if they're close by; around 7 or 8 pm. There's always the chance some jackass pulled a sniper at 5:30, but other times you'll get there and find a whole bunch of retro games untouched.

Community sales and the large scale seasonal flea markets would be the next highest priorities on my list. Generally you can cover a lot of ground on these without burning a lot of gas.

Also, you'll learn from experience that some neighborhoods are better than others for finds. Newly created families with young children can be good if the father was a gamer--one who is now ready to make that all-important life change upon your arrival ;)[/QUOTE]

So just follow the trail of shattered dreams to the pile of games?
 
[quote name='VashandWolfwood']How does everybody here find good garage sales? With the nicer weather upon us, I know we're going to see a lot of them, but I don't know how to go about finding the ones worth going to, or is it a crapshoot more often than not?[/QUOTE]

Garage sales requires a fairly large investment of time, money, and energy, but can be the most lucrative place for bargain hunters and dealers to make money. You need to have the time and will power to wake up and be ready to leave your house no later than 8am, and on a Saturday or Sunday that can be tough. Hitting up tag sales also requires a lot of patience and you can't get easily discouraged either, because you can go weeks if not months with absolutely no luck, only to make one huge score.

If you look through this thread and think that there's treasure to be had at every sale, or that some people have more skills than others, don't believe it. People only post and brag about the one huge find or major score they found, they don't mention the other 4 hours and half a tank of gas they spent turning up nothing.

The best advice I can give for the would be tag saler is to do some research before you go. Broaden your horizons and try and get a general idea of what types of items might be valuable and what isn't, that includes toys, antiques, electronics, general merchandise, books, etc. Just because something may seem crappy and worthless doesn't mean it is, and on the flip side just because something looks like it's new in the box and might have been expensive doesn't mean that it has any actual value.

If you go to tag sales with only a narrow set of items you want ie: Toys, Video Games, Movies, etc. you will end up frustrated and disappointed, since most people won't part with this stuff anyways, and when they do it's often not at reasonable prices (ie: The infamous, I paid $300 for this X-Box and these games in 2002, so they must be worth at least $150 now argument), and these are often the most sought ater items anyways, usually the first to go, remember you're competing with all the other bargain hunters out there, and there are people now that make their living doing this stuff. Also, set your expectations low, that way even if you only have a few modest finds, you won't end up disappointed.

Me personally I largely gave up on the tag sale and flea market deal a long time ago. eBay and Amazon have completely changed the dynamics of the market, people largely know what their stuff is worth now, and it requires too much of a commitment for too little reward. Sure, you may have find some decently valuable items that you can flip, but once you add in the cost of gas, the value of your time, mileage put on your car, etc. you often times will just about break even. I prefer not to deal with the frustration of people having tag sales full of worthless garbage that they want a ton of money for.
 
[quote name='VashandWolfwood']How does everybody here find good garage sales?[/QUOTE]
Just look.
Around here, there's about a 50/50 chance that a yard sale will have something worth your while, but there's quite a few of them on most weekends, so the chances are pretty good.
Around here you can get stuff for nothing, (my most notable find was a $25 Fender Princeton that I sold for $800), I think most people just want to get rid of stuff rather than make money from it.
My dad has even better luck than I do, though he knows a lot more about tools than I do.

Also, to elaborate, "just look" means exactly that, drive around and try and find some signs. Check craigslist or the paper to get a general idea of where to go, but you usually find better stuff at the unadvertised sales (in my experience.) It helps to stick to what you know as well, or at least do research on stuff that you want to find.
 
[quote name='casperinian']So just follow the trail of shattered dreams to the pile of games?[/QUOTE]

Lmao...well, it's less shattered dreams and more about the good giving vibes. You get people who have regular jobs and just want to clear out some space--naturally they're the sort who'd rather have their collection go to someone who enjoys games. Maybe they just don't have the time anymore, or maybe their games have just been collecting dust...

Anyhow, these are the type of people who will give you games for a song and dance instead of running to check ebay prices: seek out the well-to-do. Dealer-types and the Desperate are by nature more difficult quarry; there you either have to be sharp on pricing mistakes or seek to crush their hopes on whatever item they have that's overvalued. On these types sometimes it helps to express only lukewarm interest, mention the going rates for what you usually pay and acquire similar items for--pretty much communicate that you can buy, but that you're no sucker or charity either. After all, the liquidation of stuff is their problem--it doesn't have to be yours :cool:
 
[quote name='spmahn']
If you look through this thread and think that there's treasure to be had at every sale, or that some people have more skills than others, don't believe it. People only post and brag about the one huge find or major score they found, they don't mention the other 4 hours and half a tank of gas they spent turning up nothing.
[/QUOTE]

Ok I take a little offense to this comment. There are definitely people with more skills than others. Some of us are better negotiators than others, some of us know more about a wider group of products, some of us are experts in a specific product. I could find something at every sale I go to that I could resell, but most items are not worth the time or risk of infestation to buy.

If you are a skilled buyer, you can pretty much find something at every sale. We only post about the major scores because that is what people want to see. They don't want to read a wall of text like this one ;)
 
[quote name='Indigo_Streetlight']Lmao...well, it's less shattered dreams and more about the good giving vibes. You get people who have regular jobs and just want to clear out some space--naturally they're the sort who'd rather have their collection go to someone who enjoys games. Maybe they just don't have the time anymore, or maybe their games have just been collecting dust...

Anyhow, these are the type of people who will give you games for a song and dance instead of running to check ebay prices: seek out the well-to-do. Dealer-types and the Desperate are by nature more difficult quarry; there you either have to be sharp on pricing mistakes or seek to crush their hopes on whatever item they have that's overvalued. On these types sometimes it helps to express only lukewarm interest, mention the going rates for what you usually pay and acquire similar items for--pretty much communicate that you can buy, but that you're no sucker or charity either. After all, the liquidation of stuff is their problem--it doesn't have to be yours :cool:[/QUOTE]

I see what you are driving at, that's some well thought out analysis. I guess if you were more a kindred spirit than the same dealer type you mentioned they would have separate motivation to want to deal more with someone like you.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Ok I take a little offense to this comment. There are definitely people with more skills than others. Some of us are better negotiators than others, some of us know more about a wider group of products, some of us are experts in a specific product. I could find something at every sale I go to that I could resell, but most items are not worth the time or risk of infestation to buy.

If you are a skilled buyer, you can pretty much find something at every sale. We only post about the major scores because that is what people want to see. They don't want to read a wall of text like this one ;)[/QUOTE]

I don't see how skills as a negotiator would be of any use at a tag sale. The people you deal with aren't professionals, they're either going to be willing to take a lesser amount or not. If they won't budge on prices, then there's not much you're going to be able to do about it. Knowledge as I said is necessary, but knowledge is not a skill.

While yes, conceivably you could find SOMETHING at every sale to resell, given all the costs involved with reselling, particularly online, you have to be making a fairly decent profit to make it worth the effort, and if you're finding items that you can sell at greater than $10 profit at every tag sale you go to, then let me know where you live, because that's where I'm moving. At best around here you'll find something worth buying at maybe one out of every 10 tag sales, and something of real value at maybe one out of every 25 or so. Lots of people here don't understand the difference between items that should be sold, and items that should be thrown out.

As far as your wall of text comment, I did break it up into smaller paragraphs. Other peoples literacy or lack thereof is of no concern to me, sorry.
 
There are a ton of people here who just don't want to bother selling their stuff online, its easier for them to set up on one Saturday when they have the day off and sell all their crap then. If you have 150 NES games to auction off its just easier to price them all at 50 cents each and watch them sell quickly than to auction each one of them on ebay and individually package them, spend money on shipping supplies, pay the fees and have to deal with the rest of the hassles of selling on ebay.

Yard sales don't start until 9-am10am here, I have mentioned it several times but my area is weird, if you go driving around at 8am you won't find anything but people setting up(or you might find nothing) and they will be angry at you for coming early. I have tried going out at 8am before, it just didn't work. My area doesn't wake up on Saturday till at least 10am.

Estate sales are entirely different, those start early and the resellers go to those early, but the customers of these types of sales are usually totally different than your average yard sale customer.

Going at the end of a sale is sometimes good, if the stuff is overpriced and not selling and the person wants rid of it you can likely get them to budge pretty quickly on the price. I have been able to knock the price down by half or more a lot of times this way. Last week at one of the few sales I went to a lady was giving most everything away that was on the lawn except for a few bigger items for 25 cents each.

Asking for video games has not worked for me, I gave up on that but its pretty funny to go to every sale and ask for video games especially when its a person in their 80's who has no clue.

In my area older games are considered trash as its very urban around here and the kids only want the newest and greatest. So if you want to get a cheap Xbox 360 or possibly a Wii or PS3 you will have problems but people are more than eager to dump their PS1's and N64's. Ok I shouldn't say trash because occasionally people still price it high. PS2 is the gray area as some people think its worth a lot but others will give PS2 stuff away very cheap.

Its not possible to find something here at every single sale, but I will have days where I might buy something small at every sale I go to (especially if its like a 25 cent item), but it doesn't happen every week. Last weeks sales simply weren't populated enough with stuff in order for me to have enough stuff to pick from to buy something.

Negotiating doesn't matter if the person is dead set on a certain price, no amount of convincing will get them down on the price. In this case its better off if you just leave the sale without buying anything and move to the next sale instead of wasting time with the person who doesn't want to deal, yard sales are for dealing after all.

The best area to go to is an area where the housing market crashed, tons of stuff for sale, if you can stay out of debt like everyone else, if you have money to buy the stuff and its stuff you can sell online. Obviously you won't be selling locally in these areas. Not sure if this still applies though, but I heard areas where the housing market crashed were totally amazing for finds while the housing crisis was going on.
 
[quote name='pyoobez']Two years ago was racing wheel season for me. I must've ran across 20 of them and ended up buying one at a yard sale. Then my dad mentioned at work the one I got him and a guy brought him one in as his wife said she was going to take it to the Salvation Army when she started cleaning.

Then turned around and bought one that showed up in the Salvation Army a week later that had the XBox adaptor to it for my bro. Almost all of them I ran across were either PC or console and none of the consoles had the XBox adaptor there.[/QUOTE]

Funny how that works out. I just didn't want to go home empty handed (video game wise). I'm hoping it gets better but damn is it going to be hard. I live right next to the border and people cross over very very early in huge vans and just buy everything by the time you get to a sale.
 
[quote name='spmahn']I don't see how skills as a negotiator would be of any use at a tag sale. The people you deal with aren't professionals, they're either going to be willing to take a lesser amount or not. If they won't budge on prices, then there's not much you're going to be able to do about it. Knowledge as I said is necessary, but knowledge is not a skill.

While yes, conceivably you could find SOMETHING at every sale to resell, given all the costs involved with reselling, particularly online, you have to be making a fairly decent profit to make it worth the effort, and if you're finding items that you can sell at greater than $10 profit at every tag sale you go to, then let me know where you live, because that's where I'm moving. At best around here you'll find something worth buying at maybe one out of every 10 tag sales, and something of real value at maybe one out of every 25 or so. Lots of people here don't understand the difference between items that should be sold, and items that should be thrown out.

As far as your wall of text comment, I did break it up into smaller paragraphs. Other peoples literacy or lack thereof is of no concern to me, sorry.[/QUOTE]

You may want to work on your reading comprehension. I was talking about my wall of text and the walls of text that would fill this thread if everyone posted about their non-finds.

If you do not understand the importance of negotiation, you obviously lack the skill to negotiate. If people do not want to budge, they can usually be swayed. It is rare that people will not budge at all on their prices.

Another useful skill is the ability to solve math problems in your head. I guess you could argue that a person can use a calculator, but I doubt that will go over well when you are trying to lowball a person at at G-Sale.

You are welcome to come with me to some sales. I would be happy to show you how a skilled person shops. There are plenty of treasures where you live, you just lack the knowledge and skills to find / identify them.

Lots of people here don't understand the difference between items that should be sold, and items that should be thrown out.
Are you talking about on CAG or where you live? If it is CAG, I would like to see some examples.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']If you do not understand the importance of negotiation, you obviously lack the skill to negotiate. If people do not want to budge, they can usually be swayed. It is rare that people will not budge at all on their prices.

Another useful skill is the ability to solve math problems in your head. I guess you could argue that a person can use a calculator, but I doubt that will go over well when you are trying to lowball a person at at G-Sale.[/QUOTE]

I can second that. There's definitely a skill to negotiation. It's a little like poker. My GF ruined some negotiations for me because I have asked her what she thought, and she'd get crazy excited. And it made me want to do a face palm. She's gotten better, cept this past weekend when she found a funny bumper sticker that she saw on a car before and wanted. The people ended up giving it to her for free though, so it worked out fine.

I grew up watching people haggle, and my mom even let me negotiate their car when I barely started college, so I've had plenty of experience before I started going to sales.

There are also times I don't bother, because you can tell that there's just no way you'll come out ahead on a deal, so you just leave and not waste any more time there.

As for math problems, I usually have the total right when they say the prices. I probably sometimes respond so fast, they think I'm throwing out a lowball number, and they stand there adding out loud for like 15 seconds before they realize I already said the total.

There was even this lady that told us the prices individually, and it add up to $23 or so, and I offer her $20. She was saying that's too low, and she spent like two minutes adding everything, before her expression changes, and she froze cause her math sucks, and was still adamant that it's too low. This is after she said many times she'll give us a discount if you bought a bunch.

Edit: GF would like to point out that she's gotten cheap or free stuff after getting excited :roll:
 
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Last Saturday I picked up Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island for SNES for $5. The guy had a SNES with 8 games for $40, but this was the only game that was any good.
(in Annapolis, MD)
 
[quote name='elessar123']My GF ruined some negotiations for me because I have asked her what she thought, and she'd get crazy excited.

Edit: GF would like to point out that she's gotten cheap or free stuff after getting excited :roll:[/QUOTE]

GFs are a double edged sword ;)

But seriously speaking working in pairs is how a lot of dealers/resellers/store owners do their buying.

They always work in pairs at auctions. One person usually distracts people while the other one bids. They did it successfully on one item that I didn't win a couple of years ago.

The bidder was standing behind me, so I thought I had the bid. I even lifted my number, so I don't know how the auctioneer missed it (since most people just nod or raise an empty hand). I am still pissed about it, but now I know what they look like and I have changed my approach.



In terms of Garage Sales if you are working in pairs, eventually you will be on the same wavelength where you do not have to speak to communicate.

A pair can also help with negotiation. One person finds something and the other says something negative about them buying the item. That basically is a way to negotiate with the seller without really haveing to negotiate. Most sellers will drop the price right there without you having to ask or make an offer.


I just woke up, so hopefully that makes sense.
 
Working in pairs is definitely a plus, especially if the person knows you well or knows the stuff you are looking for. It also helps if you are looking for very different things but make sure the other knows what you are looking for and the general price ranges.

For me I go yard sailing with my mom, since she knows me all too well she can pick things for me. Even though she doesn't play video games she now knows when something is very overpriced and I think she has a general idea of the price ranges on the stuff that I buy. She also pitches in with the negotiations and was a major help in getting that $20 PS2 I got last year.

I suggest going with a few different people looking for different things in order to save money on gasoline and make it more worthwhile for everyone involved if you can pull it off. Take 2-4 people, take your kids, etc.. A lot of people will drop prices if you take your kids and they want something and the seller wants rid of it. Cute kids can also be a nice distraction. Once your kids get used to buying from yard sales they will want less and less expensive things from stores. I grew up with yard sales as well and I was more happy getting toys in the summer from yard sales than I was getting toys at Xmas time.

There can be conflicts if everyone wants the same thing so you need to get different people with different interests and you all have to agree that the other people won't infringe on what you are buying.
 
So, one thing I've had good luck with flipping from the thrift stores and yard sales is jeans. I've had some good luck at my local thrift store finding M+FG jeans, Agave, and today I found these that are new with original tags. The original price was pretty high, so I figured getting them for $3 at the thrift store should make for a good flip. Here's the thing, I don't recognize the label, and it looks like one of those damn captcha things with the letters all distorted. I've been trying google, but am not coming up with info about this brand, so I thought I'd ask here and see if any one could fill me in on who makes these, and what does that tag say? They look pretty cool, they have a large design embroidered on the back of the left leg, plus the stuff on the back pocket there. Anyway, hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.

IMG_1669.jpg
 
[quote name='JediKiller24']So, one thing I've had good luck with flipping from the thrift stores and yard sales is jeans. I've had some good luck at my local thrift store finding M+FG jeans, Agave, and today I found these that are new with original tags. The original price was pretty high, so I figured getting them for $3 at the thrift store should make for a good flip. Here's the thing, I don't recognize the label, and it looks like one of those damn captcha things with the letters all distorted. I've been trying google, but am not coming up with info about this brand, so I thought I'd ask here and see if any one could fill me in on who makes these, and what does that tag say? They look pretty cool, they have a large design embroidered on the back of the left leg, plus the stuff on the back pocket there. Anyway, hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.

IMG_1669.jpg
[/QUOTE]


It looks like Kanji Jeans.


Edit: just checked google and they come up under Kanji jeans.
 
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